All of Taylor Swift’s Love Songs Inspired by Boyfriend Joe Alwyn
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Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have been notoriously private about their relationship since first getting together, but the singer has given us glimpses of their love story in her music.
Since Reputation was released in 2017, Swift has penned numerous tracks about the English actor, from flirty pop tracks to love ballads (she has also made references to Alwyn in music video Easter eggs as well).
While some songs are more pointed than others — such as Swift’s lyrics about Alwyn’s blue eyes and accent — others hint at their close bond with each other and the beginnings of their relationship.
In addition to being the subject of Swift’s music, Alwyn has also collaborated with his girlfriend on recent projects, including writing songs for Folklore and Evermore under the pseudonym William Bowery.
With the release of her Midnights album, take a look back at all the songs Swift has written about Alwyn.
RELATED: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s Relationship Timeline
“. . . Ready For It?” from Reputation
Swift seems to document the beginning of her relationship with Alwyn in “. . . Ready For It?” including how they initially took things slowly as she wanted their relationship to last. The music video also features several Easter eggs about the actor, including his birth year and his name in Chinese characters.
“End Game” from Reputation
In “End Game,” Swift once again talks about wanting to be with her partner for the long haul, singing, “I can’t let you go, your hand print’s on my soul / It’s like your eyes are liquor, it’s like your body is gold.” Additionally, the music video is also set in London and features shots of Swift wearing her “J” necklace, seemingly standing for Joe.
“Delicate” from Reputation
In the love ballad, Swift sings about falling for someone when her reputation was crumbling, alluding to the early stages of her relationship with Alwyn. She also sings about them sneaking off to private places to be together with the opener: “Dive bar on the East Side, where you at? / Phone lights up my nightstand in the black / Come here; you can meet me in the back.” Additionally, she talks about her love interest wearing “dark jeans and Nikes,” an ensemble the actor has worn on various occasions with Swift, and many think the lyric “oh damn, never seen that color blue” refers to Alwyn’s eyes.
“Gorgeous” from Reputation
The flirty track is speculated to be about how Swift fell for Alwyn after first meeting at the 2016 Met Gala. In the lyrics, she seemingly references her DJ ex, Calvin Harris, as she sings that she has a boyfriend “in the club doing, I don’t know what.” She also gushes about Alwyn’s “ocean blue eyes” and how she made fun of his English accent when they first met.
RELATED: Taylor Swift’s ‘Gorgeous’ Lyrics Decoded: All About the Singer’s Romance with Boyfriend Joe Alwyn
“King of My Heart” from Reputation
Swift’s king and queen references throughout the song are taken to be nods to Alwyn’s English roots. She also sings that her exes don’t compare to Alwyn, as she sings, “‘Cause all the boys and their expensive cars / With their Range Rovers and their Jaguars / Never took me quite where you do” (which, perhaps not coincidentally, are cars that previous boyfriends Harris and Tom Hiddleston drove). Finally, she talks about keeping their love a secret, alluding to how private Swift and Alwyn have been about their relationship since getting together.
“Dress” from Reputation
In the bridge of “Dress,” Swift seems to confirm that she first met Alwyn at the 2016 Met Gala as she mentions his “buzzcut” and her “hair bleached,” hairstyles they notably sported at the fashion event that year. She also talks about how they fell for each other in her darkest moments as she sings, “Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me.”
“Call It What You Want” from Reputation
Swift seems to give a closer look at her bond with Alwyn in the lyrics as she talks about how she trusts him like a brother and wants to “wear his initial on a chain round my neck,” referring to the “J” pendant she was seen wearing.
“New Year’s Day” from Reputation
The lyrics seem to detail Swift and Alwyn’s lasting love for each other through good and bad times as she sings: “I want your midnights / But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day.” She ends the song by adding that she wants to be with her love “forevermore.”
RELATED: On Lover, Taylor Swift — Self-Assured and Madly in Love — Revels in a Hard-Won Happy Ending
“Lover” from Lover
In the title track from 2019’s Lover, Swift sings about finding her person after various heartbreaks. “There’s a line in the song that I’m really proud of, and the line says, ‘With every guitar string scar in my hand, I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover,’ and that line is really special to me because I’ve spent quite a bit of time writing break-up songs,” she previously said of the bridge during NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert Series.
Swift also seemingly confirms their 2016 dating anniversary, as she sings about loving her beau for three summers.
“Cruel Summer” from Lover
Fans have theorized that “Cruel Summer” reveals the singer was fighting feelings for Alwyn while dating Hiddleston between May and September 2016. “I’m drunk in the back of the car / And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar / Said, ‘I’m fine,’ but it wasn’t true / I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you,” she sings on the bridge. By the end of the bridge, she sings about confessing her love to Alwyn with the lyrics: “I screamed for whatever it’s worth / ‘I love you,’ ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?”
RELATED: A Comprehensive List of All the Easter Eggs Taylor Swift Has Left for Fans in Her New Music
“I Think He Knows” from Lover
In the track, “I Think He Knows,” Swift sings about her beau knowing she’s fallen for him. “He got that boyish look that I like in a man,” she seemingly sings about Alwyn, later giving a nod to his “lyrical smile” and “indigo eyes.”
“Paper Rings” from Lover
In “Paper Rings,” Swift details wanting to commit to someone long-term as she sings, “I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings.” She also details some of her private moments with Alwyn, including when they painted his brother’s room blue together.
“London Boy” from Lover
Swift sings about her British beau’s laugh, dimples and accent while cheekily admitting: “You know I love a London boy.” She then sings about trekking around various parts of his hometown, alluding to the time they have spent together in London during their relationship.
“Daylight” from Lover
In the emotional closing track for Lover, Swift sings about finding true love after all of her ups and downs. “I once believed love would be burning red,” she sings, making a reference to her emotional album Red. “But it’s golden / Like daylight.”
RELATED: Taylor Swift on Making Folklore Album in Isolation: ‘Picking Up a Pen Was My Way of Escaping’
“Peace” from Folklore
During her conversation with Paul McCartney for Rolling Stone, Swift explained that “Peace” is “rooted in [her] personal life” and about her navigating finding a balance between her public persona and private life as she was falling in love with Alwyn.
“I, oftentimes, in my anxieties, can control how I am as a person and how normal I act and rationalize things, but I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and what they do and if they follow our car and if they interrupt our lives,” she said. “I can’t control if there’s going to be a fake weird headline about us in the news tomorrow.”
When McCartney asked if her partner sympathizes with that, the singer responded, “absolutely” adding, “I think that in knowing him and being in the relationship I am in now, I have definitely made decisions that have made my life feel more like a real life and less like just a storyline to be commented on in tabloids. Whether that’s deciding where to live, who to hang out with, when to not take a picture — the idea of privacy feels so strange to try to explain, but it’s really just trying to find bits of normalcy.”
“Invisible String” from Folklore
Through the song, Swift makes references to both her and Alwyn’s early life — including her time at Centennial Park when she lived in Nashville and his time working at a yogurt shop when he was a teenager — as she talks about an invisible string that eventually led them to each other. “And isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some / Invisible string / Tying you to me?” she sings.
“The Lakes” from Folklore
Swift sings about wanting to escape the spotlight and whisk away to the lakes to be with her “muse,” which many fans think is a nod to Alwyn as he’s been the main inspiration behind her love songs over the course of their private relationship.
“I don’t belong, and my beloved, neither do you,” she sings of the couple’s desire to escape the eyes of others.
RELATED: Taylor Swift Continues Weaving Musical Magic on Exquisitely Introspective Evermore
“Long Story Short” from Evermore
Once again, Swift recalls what her life was like before finding Alwyn as she sings about everything from falling for the “wrong guy” to her “nemeses.” After those “bad times,” she sings, “I’m all about you,” and adds,” “No more keepin’ score now / I just keep you warm / No more tug of war now / I just know there’s more.”
“Lavender Haze” from Midnights
Following the announcement of the Midnights song, Swift revealed that she was inspired to write the track after watching Mad Men reference the “Lavender Haze” as “being in love.” She added that the song was specifically about her longtime relationship with Alwyn.
“Like my relationship for six years, we’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it,” Swift said. “And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.”
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